


Wrong

by Giggle_fit



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Child Death, Deathfic, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 04:36:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14663430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giggle_fit/pseuds/Giggle_fit
Summary: Pepper knows something is off, but it takes a few days for her to really notice.





	Wrong

Pepper doesn’t notice it at first, because when Tony returns to Earth in a beat up ship with a strange blue cyborg gripping one arm, all she cares about is he’s there. Tony is alive, if beaten within an inch.

She does notice his eyes, though, and feels her heart drop to her feet when she sees the raw grief in Tony’s eyes. It only takes a second for her to figure out why.

Two heroes went up with the donut-shaped alien vessel. Two came back, but not the same pair.

‘Oh, God….’

Suddenly Tony stumbles out of the cyborg woman’s grip and to his knees. Pepper instinctively unfreezes and runs to him, dropping down and gathering him in her arms before he can fall completely. Behind him, she catches a glimpse of the stranger’s face twist slightly in sympathy before she returns to the ship.

“..He’s gone…Pep...I lost my boy..”

Pepper closes her eyes, the confirmation setting a vice around her heart. His tone only makes matters worse; Tony has never in their years of partnership sounded so dead inside. So she holds him against her shoulder, running her hands through his hair and rocking slowly, at least until exhaustion takes him. Then she gestures for Happy to help her and the two of them carry Tony into the compound. The stranger remains in the cockpit of the ship.

 

 

She doesn’t even really notice it until the next day, and then it is only a feeling that something is decidedly wrong about one Anthony Edward Stark. His movements are slow and he’s so quiet that she sometimes gets spooked when she fails to notice him nearing her. It’s unnerving; He’s not spoken a word since his heartbreaking admission the day before.

She tries to talk to him, but finds she loses the ability to speak the moment she finds her words. How can she say anything when half the universe, including Peter, just vanished in a cloud of dust? Then she remembers the cyborg. 

A look outside confirms she is still there, as she rather stands out through the viewscreen of the spaceship.  
‘Ok then,’ Pepper thinks, and slips into a pair of sneakers before setting out towards the brightly colored ship. As if she knew Pepper was going to come, the ramp has just lowered when Pepper arrives at the base of it.  
Inside, the ship is clearly well-loved, with precise repairs only visible because the owner probably wasn’t a stickler for interior design. It certainly had character: she passes a bright orange Walkman left on a seat, and a colorful blanket left hanging off a star chart table. It looked rather like something Tony would make as a mockup, just a touch of homeyness to mark it as less than a finished project. With a pang, Pepper realized there were signs of many more lives than just her blue guest--and she didn't have to wonder where they were.

“You want to know what happened, exactly.” the cyborg states as she approaches the cockpit.  
Pepper pauses. “Um...yes, if you can ms..”  
The cyborg woman turns the seat to face her, expression nearly impassive if not for the same defeat in her eyes and the set of her shoulders.  
“Nebula…..daughter of Thanos,” she says, the last bit hissed and mechanical. Not a well-loved daughter, then, not that she expected decent parenting from an alien so cold as to murder trillions of people for balance ,” and besides the obvious loss of life….”  
Her shoulders sink further. “ They were close to removing the gauntlet, until Thanos revealed he’d murdered my sister, Gamora.” This name is spoken differently, regret and love and sorrow so strong in just the one word that Pepper feels her heart going out to the surviving sister.  
A breath, and then Nebula makes eye contact again. “Her boyfriend didn’t react well..Humans,” at this, she shrugs an apology. Pepper takes no offense,” and then your Iron Man…”  
Nebula trails off, a look of genuine respect crossing her face. She even smirks a little.

“He took on Thanos with his suit disintegrating, striking with whatever part of him was still armored.”  
“HE WHAT?!” She doesn’t mean to shriek, but the sheer stupidity has it out of her before she can compose herself. She’s been filled in on Thanos’ strength; a human couldn’t compare. Nebula actually huffs what sounds like a laugh in response, then continues as if nothing happened.  
“It was fairly impressive. I have never before observed anyone so breakable fight a Titan in such a way. Of course, it could not last..I’m sure you’ve seen the stab wound?”  
Pepper winces, nodding. It had been an ugly, though nonfatal wound thanks to Peter’s web formula. Idly, she wonders when Tony had the upgrade added to his suit.

“Thanos had him...until the sorcerer, Strange, simply offered up the last Infinity Stone. Thanos left and..….most of the others vanished in a second. But the boy…,”  
“Peter.” Pepper adds.  
“..Peter,” Nebula corrects, “ He seemed to sense it coming before the rest. Tried to get to Stark. He died in his arms.”

Silence, then Pepper sinks into the copilot’s chair, head in her hands. It’s so much worse than she imagined when Tony had collapsed. Dead is one thing, but she knows all too well what Tony’s worst nightmare was; she’d been woken up by the aftermath enough times to know. And this is it times 1000.  
Tony had dreamt of losing his team, but he’d never imagined Peter dying with him so close and so helpless to do anything. It hadn’t occurred to her, either, that such a thing was possible. Peter was the kid, training but never in the middle of the serious stuff, and never at risk of actually dying. Hurt, maybe, but with all the protocols and gear stored in the Iron Spider, neither of them had ever given time to contemplate the worst case scenario, that a power existed that could doom him even if he survived the actual fight.  
“Thank you.” Pepper says. Nebula only closes her eyes.

 

It’s two days later, after she has been running around trying to check on Stark Industries, keeping Ross off her back, and settling Nebula in the compound, that she finally sees it. She’s busy checking in with Wakanda’s Queen Mother via text, reading over the list of the dead for any employees or kids who may need SI’s help, and half listening to Steve when she walks into the bedroom and looks up at Tony’s faint “hey, Pep.”  
She blinks for a moment, stunned by the feeling of wrongness for a few seconds before she finally sees what had begun the day he’d returned. Steve does, too, a second later, and they share a look of disbelief before looking back at Tony.

Tony Stark has gone grey.

It’s actually a little honey-colored, but far lighter than before Titan, and very obviously grey at the temples. But it’s not the natural grey of age, gentle as it comes in. Instead it’s the shocking and seemingly overnight sort of grey,the kind one normally see’s on widowed spouses--  
That, or parents that have buried their own children.

Steve has clearly come to the same conclusion, because there’s absolute fury in his eyes as he turns to leave them, enough to make her momentarily hopeful they’ll find and end Thanos for his crimes.  
Tony doesn’t bother to pretend he doesn’t realize what they’ve just noticed. He smiles weakly and goes back to his suit upgrades. Pepper stands there a minute more, rage and sorrow fighting for control until she simply sinks onto the bench Tony is using and lays her head on his shoulder, arm lacing with his free one, and says nothing, herself finally defeated.

Words aren’t going to fix this. Killing Thanos can’t fix it.

Nothing can possibly fix this.


End file.
